Entirely Possessed by This Book
Posted by Karen R on November 03, 1997 at 15:22:08:
In response to Knowing, written by Jane Elizabeth on November 03, 1997 at 11:44:28
]Oddly, he seemed to regard Roland and Maud as the "real" story.
Nothing odd in that. I believe Roland is the main character. His quest for the answers to the Ash-LaMotte mystery as well as to life, love, himself, poetry, truth, all the big stuff, are what move this story along. He is the one who does it.
the book does essentially move to a different level (snip) We have the veil of years lifted from our eyes and begin to KNOW things about the past that the present-day characters will NEVER know.
Precisely. This is what Byatt, our omniscient narrator, is doing. She is the puppet master. She takes Roland and Maud to a certain point. They all think that now they know the truth. But they don't because of all the material that people like Ellen Ash destroyed. She tells us this in the very opening poem (Mr. Sludge) that no one can know the truth.
]I'd love to have an HTML version of the book
Sounds like you've reached the same conclusion as I. My manual marking method (underlining, post-it notes galore) has gotten totally out of hand.
I love it when others feel much the same as I do about this novel. The great realizations and understanding. It is just tooo much for words. Needs an annotated hypertext version. Perhaps, there could be a collaborative effort? Stolzi seems to know her Shakespeare.
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